Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 131 Have you finally found it?

The first person to discover the castle was Metien.

The road ahead was blocked by a fallen giant tree. The trunk was over 30 meters high and was broken from the roots. The heavy force it brought down dragged down more than a dozen trees around it and tore off a large area of ​​vines and roots, making the ground a mess. The ground was full of potholes after the roots were pulled out, like a meteorite hit the ground. The dark soil deep underground was turned up and piled up randomly, mixed with the bodies of insects, animals and birds that didn't have time to escape. The scene looked like it had been ravaged by some terrible disaster, such as a mudslide or a storm.

Some trees were already on the verge of falling, but some of their roots were still buried in the ground, entangled with the soil, so they looked frightened, as if they would fall down but also as if they would not. A slightly stronger wind would shake their trunks and branches, making a frightening, low sound.

It was obviously unsafe to continue on this road, so Linger discussed with Alice what to do next. Specifically, Linger suggested taking a detour, and Alice nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay."

There's no way, you can't expect her to really come up with a reliable idea, right?
Therefore, everyone decided to bypass this area that was suspected to have been ravaged by the natural disaster. However, when he turned back, a gloomy shadow suddenly appeared in the corner of his eyes.

"Huh?" The pink-haired little girl stopped and looked in that direction with a puzzled look, and then she saw the same description as in the story: a dark castle, located on a high cliff, surrounded by dark red thorns covered with spikes, with only a few towering towers exposed. They kept moving upwards, trying to break free from a curse-like bondage, but were trapped in place by the entanglement of chains, no longer qualified to touch the sky. The bricks on the surface of the tower, which had been scraped by wind and rain, still retained traces of the past era.

With the castle as the center, the surrounding areas were shrouded in a darkness deeper than the night, with dark clouds piled up, almost touching the highest spires, brewing a terrifying force. The atmosphere was depressing and gloomy, and from a distance, it made people feel like a giant, an ancient beast, or an ancient ship that was not allowed to dock, standing alone and silently at the end of the world, waiting for the baptism of the last storm.

Metien stared at the castle in a daze, and suddenly she felt very cold, as if "cold" was a concept that could be observed with the naked eye rather than felt by actual touch. Her hands and feet gradually became cold and she could hardly move; her blood gradually became cold and stopped flowing; in the end, even her heart began to get cold, as if it was losing the strength to beat.

At this time, it was Xie Mi's call that brought her back from this cold feeling.

This was of course a joke, no one would abandon Metien, so everyone stopped and waited for the little girl to catch up. However, Metien slowly turned around and gave everyone a very forced smile. Her voice was very soft and thin, conveying a sense of weakness after being corroded by the cold: "Everyone, it seems that there is no need to take a detour..."

"Hey, Metien!"

"I have found it."

"It's okay, Lingge." The little girl smiled at him: "I just think that the castle gives people a feeling... very depressing, a bit like the situation that time."

"Are you okay, Metien?" Linger gently touched her head: "If you feel uncomfortable, we can take a rest before leaving."

A few minutes later, everyone changed their original plan and headed towards the castle. Metien walked in the middle of the team, wearing his brother's coat and looking a little pale.

Seeing that his good friend had not caught up with the team, the little fairy waved from a distance and said, "What are you daydreaming about? Hurry up, or I will leave you behind."

That time, Ling Ge knew that she was talking about the "Blood Moon Incident" that occurred in Linville City. According to Alice, it seemed that the evil vampires held a sacrificial ceremony to summon their evil god. For such a cruel cult, the sacrificial ceremony is usually inseparable from the flesh and blood soul, so it presents such a weird state.

……

As for what this ancient castle in front of us is about, there is no way of knowing.

"Well," Ling Ge was still a little worried, and reminded him again, "When you want to rest, you must tell us, and don't let everyone worry about you."

"Yeah!" Metien seemed to have recovered his strength and nodded vigorously.

Lingge ruffled her hair and said nothing more.

……

In the story told by Mr. Mills, Sir Roman accidentally discovered the trace of the castle while climbing in the mountains, but he could not catch up with it no matter how hard he chased. Later, several expedition teams were organized, but all returned empty-handed. This may mean that finding the castle is only the first step, and travelers still have a long way to go.

If the story is not tortuous and bizarre enough, it will not be enough to attract the audience's attention and lead them to immerse themselves in it and be moved by the joys and sorrows of the plot.

However, unexpectedly, it didn't take them long to reach the bottom of the cliff where the castle was located.

The soil of this mountain is a strange color, a rusty red mixed with blood. The plants growing on the surface, trees, vines, bushes, weeds... seem to be no different from other mountains, but from branches to leaves, from flowers to fruits, all of them are shining with a dark luster. Therefore, not only can people not feel their vitality, but there is a feeling of gloomy and dead silence, as if they are growing and growing on the bones of the dead, and blooming and bearing fruits by greedily feeding on the desires of the soul.

Looking up, you can see the dark and depressing sky, with dark clouds gathering at the top, slowly spinning like a whirlpool, and deep in the sky roaring low and furious, which reminds people of thunder in a storm. But obviously, these roars are completely different from the sound of thunder and lightning, they are more violent and more ferocious, as if there is a huge beast hidden in the clouds, stirring its tail fin and beating the clouds.

Everywhere was shrouded in gloomy fog, the grass and trees were withered, the ground was pitted by acid, and there was no sign of life at all. If it could rain at this time, it might be able to cleanse the evil and the chaos, bringing bursts of fresh and cool air. But the dark clouds only gathered and accumulated, creating a dry and barren atmosphere, as if they wanted to use their weight to crush and shatter the castle and the cliff below.

Stepping into here is like entering another world.

"Alas!"

Alice shuddered, touched the goose bumps on her arms, and looked around with disgust: "This place is really creepy. If we stay here for too long, we might lose health. I think we should hurry up and go back early after finishing our business."

Xie Mi lay on Metien's head and agreed listlessly: "I think so too. This place is too uncomfortable for goblins..."

Although there are fairies who like darkness, that kind of darkness and the darkness before us are obviously not the same concept.

Metien, who had been feeling uncomfortable just now, now began to comfort his friend.

Saint Shallia led her sheep and paced around the open space in front of the cliff, seemingly looking for something. The sheep, who were born to dig around, followed her closely, showing no interest in the dirty soil under their feet and not even glancing at it.

Ling Ge suddenly had a premonition of something, slowly lowered his head and looked at his fingers.

That golden thread of destiny had disappeared at some point.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)